Great South West Walk

Tuesday August 21

Section 33. NEWQUAY TO PERRANPORTH. Miles: 10.8. Grading: Moderate

Start time and location
Could you please report for registration at the Trenance Footbridge in Newquay at 8.30am.
The walk will commence at 9am.

Parking
Plenty of parking avaialble at start points.

BUS SERVICES
First services 85 and 87 run between Newquay and Perranporth via Crantock and Holywell Bay. Confirmation of all buses should be obtained from traveline on 0870 608 2608 www.traveline.org.uk before relying on a service.

RAILWAYS
At the time of writing, it is still possible to take the Atlantic Coast Line from Newquay to Par, to join the main Paddington to Penzance line. This service as an all year round railway is currently under major threat of closure or serious reduction. It is particularly limited in the winter months. For information on train services, contact National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950.

TAXIS
There are usually numerous taxis in this area – the taxi rank is situated in East Street, Newquay.

FERRY
Fern Pit Ferry, Riverside Crescent, Newquay, TR7 1PJ. Tel: 01637 873181. For details, please check our current Annual Guide. We urge you to contact the ferry operator direct if you are relying on this service, particularly if you are anticipating a fairly late finish and need to confirm the time of its last run.

MAPS
Ordnance Survey Landranger series (scale 1:50 000) Number 200, Newquay and Bodmin.
Ordnance Survey Explorer series (scale 1:25 000) Number 104 - Redruth and St Agnes.
Maps in this Path Description are reproduced in conjunction with Cornwall County Council by permission of Ordnance Survey (based mapping) on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, © Crown Copyright 100019590.
Maps in this path description were drawn by Keith Sokell and the South West Coast Path Association acknowledges his assistance with this work.

GENERAL
NEWQUAY - accommodation, cafés, pubs, shops (including a chemist), post office, parking, toilets and public telephones.
PERRANPORTH - accommodation, cafés, pubs, shops (including a chemist), post office, parking, toilets and public telephones.

TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE
Municipal Offices, Marcus Hill, Newquay, TR7 1BD. Tel: 01637 854020.

The Route
NEWQUAY TO HOLYWELL

Annual Guide section 22 (6.3 miles; 10.2 km) Grading - Moderate

Turn right into North Quay Hill passing above Newquay Harbour, the starting point for this section of coast path. If the tide is out there is a more interesting route from Fore Street. This is to turn right shortly after the small car park and go down South Quay Hill into Newquay Harbour. It is possible to walk across the back of the Harbour Beach and go up the first lot of steps on the other side, bearing left at the junction. When you reach the road turn right, almost immediately fork left and left again.

Below the road down to the South Quay is a rounded tunnel mouth. This was the rail outlet on the quay and the lines ran from here onto the jetties. The little island in the harbour was once connected to the shore by a wooden pier.

Beyond the harbour and up on the headland is the well known white-washed Huer’s Hut. Pevsner described it as ‘noteworthy’. It is thought to date from the 14th century and may in fact once have been a hermitage. Certainly later, look-out men waited for a reddish tinge on the surface of the sea which indicated the arrival of a shoal of pilchards. Having located them, the look-outs alerted the villagers and directed the fishing boats to the shoal of fish.

On the way out to Towan Head is Newquay’s old lifeboat station, where a boat was kept from 1860 to 1934: later a boat was operated from the harbour area during the Second World War and a small inshore type craft operates from there today.

Look at the launching ramp across the track from the house; it was too steep to haul the boat back. Therefore, when the boat came in from the sea it was returned to its station by landing it at a nearby beach and hauling it back through he town by a team of eight horses. This continuing use of horse power as recently as 1934 might seem unusual but Wells-next-to-the-Sea in Norfolk used horses even longer and the Ameland boat in the Netherlands used them still in 1973!

Towan Head is part of the official path, despite its omission in the National Trail Guide. To the purist therefore it is not a decision of choice, and there is the satisfaction of a good view back along the coast and of seeing again beyond Pentire Point East to what lies ahead. Unfortunately the all round view is spoilt by massive hotels of varying ages.

Between Towan Head and Pentire Point is Fistral beach. Newquay lays claim to no less than nine beaches but at low tide when several join up the number would be smaller. Close to Fistral Beach and at Mount Wise were silver lead mines working in the first half of the 19th century. The one under the sand dunes at Fistral Beach was called Newquay Consuls.

At the south end of Fistral beach turn right along Esplanade Road. This becomes unmetalled and curves uphill. For a better view, bear right just before the wall starts on the right. On this curve, a path goes up here rejoining the road later and giving you fine views. The first view of the Gannel is obtained from the top of the ridge of Pentire Point East. Pentire Point East is not part of the path; however if you should need to wait for the tide to turn, it is a fine walk out and back despite its nearness to urban Newquay.

The Gannel was once a busy trading river, and as many as twenty schooners have been recorded waiting for the tide. Ships were built here, and Clemens Shipyard was well known in the days of sail. A canal from the Gannel to service the china clay pits was projected but the scheme was never started.

CROSSING THE GANNEL

1. Newquay to Crantock via Penpol

This is now the official crossing of the River Gannel. Up river there is a tidal footbridge off Trevean Lane which crosses over to Penpol Creek. If you are at Fern Pit and need to go upstream go east (inland) along Riverside Crescent, Riverside Avenue, Fistral Crescent, turn right into Pentire Crescent, continue along Penmere Drive and turn right into Trevean Way, then turn right at the coast path sign. Be warned; there is an earlier footpath sign to Crantock - DO NOT take it because you may find it is under water. Having crossed the Gannel, turn right to follow an estuary side path. Presently it becomes a track and you pass a house on the right, then some bungalows and can soon turn right down into the National Trust’s Crantock Beach car park. Take the exit practically opposite where you came in. There is a seasonal café close to the car park.

2. Newquay to Crantock via Fern Pit Ferry Crossing (summer only); (deduct approx. 2 miles/ 3 km)

You have to pass Fern Pit to reach the official crossing of the Gannel. If the ferry is running, it is a comfortable and scenic way to cross; there is even a café on the Newquay side so that you can while away your waiting time with refreshment. However, neither the ferry nor the footbridge, which is used at low tide instead of the ferry, is available when the café is closed.

Having crossed the Gannel by this route, usually the easiest way to proceed is to turn right on the beach and walk round the corner of Crantock Beach and climb the set of steps up, off the beach.

3. Newquay to Crantock via Trenance Footbridge (add approx. 3 miles / 4.8 km)

Further up stream again, just before the estuary becomes a river, there is another footbridge which we call ‘Trenance’. This has recently been heightened so that it is more often usable than was once the case. It is beside the A3075 Gannel link road just before the boating lake on the left and its junction with Trevemper Road. If you are in Newquay and know the tides are against you, the quickest way to get here is to walk down the Gannel link road (A3075). (This is cheating but it’s your conscience. However, spare a thought for the one who had to do all the crossings to write this!)

On the other side of the footbridge, walk forward for about 165 yards (150 m) keeping the hawthorn hedge on your left, until you come to a clearing on your left, offering various routes for you to choose. You can either turn right through the pedestrian gate that is a permissive path (this path is dependent on the tide, and should be navigable for two hours either side of low tide) or if

you have any doubts about the tide, you are advised to take the old bridleway through the big gate going towards Trevemper. Proceed forwards uphill and having gone over the brow, turn right before you get to the tarmac. (Trevemper unlikely as it may seem was once a railway coal depot!) You walk via Treringey coming to Penpol Creek and so on, to the Crantock Beach car park as described above.

4. Newquay to Crantock via the A3075 (add approx. 4.5 miles / 7.2 km)

However if all these crossings fail there is the A3075 main road itself, which is the only all-states-of-the-tide and all-seasons route. Those taking the A3075 should proceed along it until just after the roundabout where the A392 branches off. In about 100 yards (90 m) take the little unsigned lane on the right. You immediately pass a partly ruined barn on your right and soon you pass a house on the outskirts of Trevemper. Then as the road bears left, go forward and right. Pass through a gate and turn left to go via Treringey to Penpol Creek and so on to the Crantock Beach car park. Needless to say the A3075, although the one route that is always certain, is quite the longest and certainly the most uninteresting.

On the south side of the Gannel a little way from the shore between Penpol Creek and Crantock Beach is the site of a lead smelter. This processed ore from the mine at Penhale, see below.

CRANTOCK

Crantock derives its name from Saint Carantocus; its saintly beginnings obviously proved too difficult to live up to, because the church later became derelict and had to be rebuilt. Crantock still remembers the time when it was more important than Newquay and people would come from there to do their shopping at Crantock, not the other way round! In case anyone has not been brought up to-date there is now refreshment of all sorts at Crantock. This is mentioned because the place was once famous, possibly notorious, because in 1800 the Temperance Guild bought all three public houses to close them!

From West Pentire there are good views across the mouth of the Gannel to Pentire Point East and the Goose off-shore. It was near this rock that a coal carrying schooner from Goole was wrecked in December 1845 and amongst those drowned was a certain James Cox who was the third brother in one family to perish at sea, which sad comment bears out an old Cornish saying to the effect that the sea was a sure living and a certain death.

On Pentire Point West grows the pretty sea lavender. This is very similar to the much larger cultivated Statice Latifolia, which came originally from the Caucasus. Scabious is also present but not all those who admire it will know that it obtained its name because it was once considered a cure for the skin complaint scabies.

Porth Joke is a pleasant spot, which does not get crowded as some of the beaches you have recently seen, and the reason for this is not hard to find as there is no large car park nearby. A good place to stop for refreshment but only for those who have brought it with them.

At Kelsey Head is another Iron Age cliff castle. It is v-shaped and you get the impression that the folk here must have worked hard on what was obviously an inferior pitch. Maybe it was a question of latecomers having to take what was unoccupied; certainly sites further up the north coast such as Porth Island or Rumps Castle would have been much more defensible.

There are good views forward again as you round Kelsey Head. Carter’s or Gull Rocks dominate the immediate view and, if it is clear, in the distance is St Agnes Head with Bawden Rocks or Man and his man, which will be in sight for so long and from so many different angles.

HOLYWELL TO PERRANPORTH

Annual Guide section 23 (4.5 miles; 7.3 km) Grading - Moderate

To return to the coastal route, whichever way you crossed the river you have to climb up towards Penhale Point. To identify this route there was originally a series of white posts. Unlike some ageing humans these have tended to lose their whiteness! However, the path has been so well walked, you are unlikely to go badly astray even if you do miss one or two. Despite the ugly army camp of low architectural standard the sea views are superb. You walk round Penhale Point and then Ligger Point.

The easiest path, if the tide permits, is now along the great stretch of firm beach to Perranporth rather than over the dunes. Even if, as is sometimes the case, you can only walk part-way along the beach it is worth going down to do this, there being a number of ‘escape routes’ up from the beach going south. The important point to watch if you want an easy descent to the beach is to fork left along the sandy path after the old wooden stile; the right fork is quicker but much steeper

If you have any question on any of the above please do not hesitate to contact one the event organisers found on the Contact us page click here

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